


The Journey

by SymmetricOwl



Category: The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (TV)
Genre: F/F, but like there's nothing bad in here, i know i chose not to use warnings, yet - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 18:15:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28729497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SymmetricOwl/pseuds/SymmetricOwl
Summary: Neela has never left the caves of Grot.  She always dreamt about it, but was never able to muster up the courage to actually do it.  When she does, things don't exactly go as she imagined them.
Relationships: OC/OC





	1. Chapter One - Thayneela

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! thanks so much for reading! I'm not gonna promise an update schedule, but like... i'll try to update frequently.

A pebble tumbled across the cave floor as it was kicked by a small foot. Thayneela winced and turned her pointed ears backward, listening for the groggy footsteps of her aunt coming to ask her why she was awake so early in the morning. But the sound never came. Sighing quietly, Thayneela continued to tiptoe down the dark, craggy tunnel.

As a grottan, Thayneela should have felt at home in the dark, confined tunnels and caves. However, she always felt the need to be above. On the surface. Oftentimes she would sneak up to where she could just barely see the light from the mouth of the tunnel nearest to her aunt's hut, and just gaze. Watching, hoping something would come sweep her away on an amazing adventure above the ground. But nothing ever did. 

Tonight though, she had finally decided to take matters into her own hands, and sneak out for good. She rounded a corner, and arrived at her usual watching-spot, as she liked to call it, to herself, of course, for if any of the other grottan knew she frequently got this close to the surface, she would be scolded a hundred times by everyone she knew. “Well, I guess this is it.” She said one final, silent farewell to Grot, and stepped forward.

When she stepped out of the tunnel, a sharp, bright light pierced her sensitive grottan eyes. She had to squint them almost all the way shut to avoid being blinded. As she slowly opened her eyes, she began to take in all the sights surrounding her. All the plants, all the animals, the suns’ light illuminating every single pebble, rock, and boulder. She saw lots of tall trees, with moss on the trunks, and large, bright green leaves growing from the branches.

“I must be in the endless forest…” She said, awestruck to no one in particular.

“Indeed you are. Are you lost?” a voice spoke from nearby.

Neela jumped. She turned toward the source of the voice. Standing near a pond was a gelfling. Her skin was painted dark-blue and gold, with small stripes of silvery-blue tattooed near their forehead. She looked very different from a Grottan. She assumed this was a Dousan, judging by the descriptions in the scrolls she’d read in the Tomb of Relics. According to the texts, the Dousan often colored their skin with ink, although Neela could never imagine any reason why they would do such a thing.

“Um, hello! No, I’m not-” she started, but then realized that she must have wandered a bit farther from the tunnel than she’d thought, without paying attention to where she was going.

“So… you are lost then,” the Dousan chuckled. She twirled one of their two or three braids between their fingers. The rest of her hair was tied up in a loose bun, and most of it was underneath a brown fabric wrap. There were a couple of long bones sticking out of the bun as well as beads woven into the braids.

“I- I suppose I am. Kind of. I wasn’t earlier, though. I guess I… just sort of strolled off without noticing,” Neela responded. She rubbed the back of her neck, reaching under her long, slightly frizzy hair. Neela’s hair was also braided in a few places, but didn’t have any of the embellishments of beads or bones that the Dousan had in theirs.

“Well, I’m Theesho. What’s your name?” the Dousan stuck out their hand for Neela to shake.

“I’m Thayneela, but I just go by Neela. Are- are you a Dousan?” Neela accepted Theesho’s outstretched hand, and shook it.

“I am! Although, I’m on a bit of a quest. It’s not super important, but my mother wanted a special root for potions that only grows in this forest, near Stone-In-The-Wood.”

“Oh! Are we near Stone-In-The-Wood? I had no idea! I’ve always wanted to visit another clan’s home!” Neela said, eyes brightening.

“Well, I wouldn’t suggest the home of the Stonewood. Out of all the clans, I’ve found them to be one of the least agreeable, second only to the Vapra. You’d be better off visiting the Sifa. They’re much more accepting of the other clans. In fact, they even allow other clans to join them.”

“Really? That’s incredible! I don’t know much about the cultures of the other clans. I’ve spent my whole life underground, so all I had to go on were scrolls and books. Not much help, if you ask me. That’s why I decided to leave Grot, to learn about the surface world!” Neela explained.  
Theesho blinked, and tilted her head to one side. “You’re Grottan? Interesting. I’ve never met one of your clan before.”

“I wouldn’t imagine you had. None of us ever leave the caves. It honestly has always seemed a little odd to me that no one else in my clan has ever been curious about the surface. But that doesn’t matter. I’m here now, and I’m not going back until I’ve seen all of Thra.” Neela put her hands on her hips, proud of her self-appointed mission. She had come up with this plan years ago, but never actually put it into action.

“Hm, that seems like a tall order for one Gelfling. Tell you what, I’ll come with you, if you like! We can start by visiting my clan, so that I can take my mother the root, and then we can head off to see the others!” Theesho suggested.

"Ooh! That sounds wonderful! It'll be so nice to have someone to travel with!"

"Alright! Shall we get going, then?"


	2. Chapter Two - Theesho

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neela and Theesho walk through the dark wood, but end up realizing they've gone the wrong direction. Also, Neela almost touches a venomous thing that would have killed her lmao

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry this chapter is so short. The chapters of this are what would be the scenes if this were an actual book, because I didn't want the chapters to be SUPER long, cause then people might not want to read it lol. But yeah, there's my explanation as to why this chapter is so short.

“Don’t touch that! Those are venomous, and it  _ will  _ kill you, or at best, make you  _ very _ sick. Like, so sick that you won’t want to move ever again,” Theesho said, grabbing Neela’s arm before she touched a bright orange, fuzzy-looking creature. They’d been walking together for about a day, and Theesho still couldn’t believe how little this gelfling knew of the world. Neela had spent her entire life underground, but it was still incredible that she didn’t recognize poisonous plants from edible ones, or venomous bugs from safe ones.

“Oh… that’s horrible! Why would anything want to do that to a gelfling!” Neela gasped.

“It’s not necessarily that it  _ wants  _ to do it, but the little orange hairs have poison in them, and it releases when touched. It’s a self-defense mechanism. So that predators can’t eat them. It’s not really meant for gelfling, but it does affect us more harshly than it does large predators, so don’t touch it.”

“Oh, alright. That makes sense. So, what’s Stone-In-The-Wood like? You said that you wouldn’t suggest going there. Why?” Neela said, her large eyes sparkling.

“Well, for one thing, the Stonewood are honestly… not super welcoming of gelfling from other clans. Trust me, I know from experience. Also, no one from other clans can really get in to see their maudra, unless you’ve gotten yourself in trouble. And even then, they kind of just… throw you in jail, without even letting you explain or defend yourself.” Theesho explained.

“What? Why would they do that? I mean, we’re all gelfling! I know we have our differences, but…” Neela wondered innocently. Again, Theesho was astonished by the lack of knowledge in Neela’s head. Theesho had only been to Stone-In-The-Wood once, but her visit made it seem like it wasn’t a very nice place to visit. 

She witnessed the arrest of two different podlings for two different reasons. One of the podlings had been unable to completely pay for his drink (but he had most of the money. Theesho was about to pay the rest when he got arrested), and the other got too drunk and fell asleep at the bar. Neither of which were very good reasons to arrest someone.

“Honestly? I’m not sure. I guess they just think they’re better than everyone else, just like the Vapra,” Theesho shrugged. She’d never met a Vapran, but she’d heard that they were  _ very _ stuck up. Like, to the point that they wouldn’t let you even come into Ha’rar if you weren’t dressed well enough. Although  _ that _ seemed a bit too outrageous to be true.

“Huh… that’s… not great. I really wish that the clans could just get along!” Neela sighed.

“Wait a second,” Theesho looked around. She must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. She glanced up at the sky, and realized the suns were completely obscured by clouds, so she couldn’t use them for navigation. She recognized the area, but it wasn’t where she wanted to be. “We must have gone the wrong way. Looks like we’re going to Stone-In-The-Wood after all. I need a map.”

“Oh. I know you don’t want to go there, but hey! Now I get to experience it for myself. And who knows, maybe the Stonewood were just having a bad day!” Neela chimed in enthusiastically.

“Yeah, maybe,” Theesho said, and turned toward Stone-In-The-Wood.


End file.
